1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a headband for use in a helmet suspension system or the like and more particularly to the means by which the size of the headband is made adjustable.
2. Prior Art
Safety hats, or helmets, are conventionally known and usually include a helmet shell and a suspension system. Such helmets are useful, for example, on construction sites or during fire fighting activities. The helmet shell is normally designed of rigid materials with high impact resistance for protection of the wearer's head.
The suspension system for such helmets performs two main functions: it retains the safety helmet in place on the head of a wearer as the wearer moves about; and it establishes and maintains a clearance space between the head of the wearer and the shell of the helmet, the space protecting the wearer's head against falling objects that impinge on the shell.
The primary retention of the safety helmet in place on the head of the wearer as the wearer moves about is performed by a headband which encircles the head of the wearer, and a clearance space for the wearer's head is established by crown straps that extend from a region adjacent the rim of the shell to a point over the crown of the wearer's head and back to the helmet rim at the point diametrically opposite the region adjacent the rim. An example of a safety helmet suspension system which includes a headband and crown straps, both of which are attached to a helmet shell, is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,555,560.
Where one would wish, or be required, to wear a safety helmet, it is common practice to store a group of safety helmets for ready access by whomever needs a helmet, either for a person scheduled to wear a helmet or for temporary visitors. That is, safety helmets are desirably and conventionally designed to be interchangable between persons with different head sizes, usually by adjustment of the headband. A variety of headband adjustment methods are known to the art, for example, as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,555,560.
Hitherto, adjustments of headbands have required the headband to be manually urged into the desired circumferential size, fastened affixedly into the desired size, and then placed upon one's head. Often, this headband adjustment procedure must be repeated one or more times before a tight, but comfortable fit is achieved.
It is very important that a headband of a safety helmet be tight enough to retain the safety helmet upon one's head and maintain the safety helmet position throughout the entire gamut of expected head motions; it is also important that the headband be comfortably fitted, or else the wearer will have a tendency to push the helmet back, or to take it off entirely.
Finally, it is desirable that the fastening device which holds the headband into the desired circumferential size does not yield if an object falls upon or strikes the safety helmet. Should the fastening device of such a headband yield even in permitting lateral motion of one portion of the headband with respect to another portion of the headband, then the safety helmet may be thrown askew upon the wearer's head and thus expose a portion of the wearer's head to falling objects or projectiles.
Accordingly, the present invention is designed to provide an improved headband useful in a helmet suspension system or the like which is readily adjustable in size, which automatically self-sets to accommodate a wearer having a head of larger size than the head size to which it was last adjusted, and which, when adjusted to the particular wearer, does not twist or yield if an object strikes the safety helmet.